Quick release female plug

ABSTRACT

A quick release female plug in which the socket portions of the female plug are resilient and are forced into engagement with the male prongs by means of a hand-actuated sliding cam bar engaged therewith.

Unite States Patent Coon 1 1 Well. 15, W72

[54] QUICK RELEASE FEMALE PLUG 1,987,772 1/1935 Eberhardt ..339/74 [72]Inventor: James A. C00, 929 Drever St" W Sacra 2,075,632 3/1937Zuckerman ..339/74 menm- Cm 9569 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [22]654,455 12/1937 Germany ..339/74 [21] Appl. No.: 17,139

Primary Examiner-Joseph H. McGlynn 52 us. c1. 339/75 11 Blair [51] Int.Cl....... ..l-ll0lr 13/20 [58] Field or Search ..339/74, 75 79, 1 FACT339/82 A quick release female plug in which the socket portions of thefemale plug are resilient and are forced into engagement [56] ReferencesCned with the male prongs by means of a handl-actuated sliding camUNITED STATES PATENTS bar engaged therewith.

1,536,688 5/1925 Osborn ..339/74 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures .33 5 4....s5 3/ 2 [0 8 I5) 24 23 if 22 3 I V I I 37 QI'ZWQZ HEF w QlUlIfZlifEEILEASE EEMAILE EILIIG BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I. Field of theInvention The present invention relates to female electric plugs of thetype which are used to connect with the male electric prongs onappliances such as toasters, coffeepots, electric irons, and otherappliances utilizing resistance heating in the appliance.

2. Description of the Prior Art Present-day female plugs are normallypushed onto the male prongs protruding from the electric appliance. Thetightness of the socket members in the female plug make it quitedifficult to push on and pull off the female plug from the male prongs.Normally back and forth side twisting motions are used in order toremove the female plug and this in time invariably causes damage to themale prongs particularly in their connection to the appliance. Gftentimes outright breakage of the portion of the appliance supporting themale prongs occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A female electric plug is provided with asliding cam bar for pressing the socket portions of the female plug intotight engagements with the male prongs of an electric appliance. Thesliding cam plug is hand actuated and can be moved to permit thedisengagement of the socket portions from the male prong prior tosliding the female plug off of the male prongs.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a female electric plugwhich is inexpensive to manufacture and which can be readily engaged anddisengaged from the male prongs of an electric appliance.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the followingspecification when considered in light of the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 2 is a top plan view of theinvention illustrated in a position disengaged from the male prongs;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG.I looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 5- 5 of FIG.2 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of theinvention.

DESCRIIPTlON OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingsin detail wherein like reference characters indicate like partsthroughout the several figures the reference numeral 110 indicatesgenerally a quick release female electric plug constructed in accordancewith the invention.

The plug 110 consists of a lower rigid insulating body Ill, an upperrigid insulating body 112, a pair of bolts 13, M securing the body 11 tothe body 12 and an electric wiring harness 15 to provide electricity tothe plug 10. The body llll has a pair of spaced-apart parallel channelsl6, 17 formed therein and extending from a point 28 spaced inwardly fromthe end of the body ill opposite the wiring harness 15 to a pointadjacent the opposite end of the plug.

An elongate arcuate contact 119 is seated in the channel 116 and asecond elongate arcuate contact 20 is seated in the channel 117. Thecontact 113 is reverted at 21 and has integrally secured thereto anarcuate contact member 22 which is arranged in diverging opposedrelation to the contact member 19. A wire terminal 23 is formed on thereverted portion 211 of the contact 119 and a wire 24 extending from thewiring harness I5 is connected thereto.

The contact 2 1 is reverted at 25 identically to the contact l3 and hasan arcuate contact 2s integrally secured thereto and extending indiverging opposing relation to the contact 260. An electric terminal 27is formed on the reverted portion 25 to receive an electric wire 2%extending from the wiring harness 115.

An elongate generally rectangular partition 23 is integrally formed onthe lower body Ill on the upper face thereof inter mediate the channelslo, 17 and parallel thereto. The partition 23 extends substantiallyabove the lower body Ill and underlies a generally rectangular opening30] formed in the upper body 112.

The upper body 112 has a pair of channels 31, 32 extendinglongitudinally thereof and overlying the channels lid, l7. The channels32, 32 diverge from the channels I6, I17 toward the end 11E of thechannel 116. The channels 311, 32 are slightly wider than the contactmembers 22, 26 so that these members may move freely therein toward andaway from the contact members i9, 20.

A cam slider indicated generally at 33 consists of a bar 3 2i whichextends horizontally to contact both the contact member 22 and thecontact member 26 on one side and the body 112 on the other side. Abutton 35 extends upwardly through the opening 30 above the body 12 forengagement by the fingers of the user to move the cam block 33longitudinally ofthe opening 3%. Movement of the cam block 33 in theopen ing 30 toward the open end of the female plug Ill causes thecontact members 22, 26 to be forced toward the contact mcm' bers i9, 20to tightly grip the male prongs 36, 37 which extend from an applianceshown fragmentarily at 38. The cam block 33 has a recess 33 formed inthe lower face thereof overlying the partition 23 and into which thepartition 29 extends to form a guide for the cam block 33 in itsmovement within the opening 30.

In the use and operation of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 through5 the cam block 33 is moved as far away from the open end of the plug asthe opening 3th will permit and the plug Ill) is moved onto the prongs36, 37 in the conventional manner. Following the insertion of the prongs36, 37 into the plug W the cam block 33 is moved as far as possibletoward the open end of the plug llll compressing the contact members 22,26 into engagement with the prongs 36, 37 to form a tight mechanical andelectrical contact therebetween. The reverse procedure is followed inremoving the plug 10 from the prongs 3E, 37 in that the cam block 33 isfirst moved in the opening 32 releasing the pressure of the contactmembers 22, 26 on the prongs 36, 37 whereupon the plug I0 is easily andquickly removed from the prongs 36, 37.

In FIG. 6 a modified form of the invention is illustrated wherein thepartition 29' has a rectangular recess 40 formed in the upper facethereof and the cam block 33 has a bar 34 which extends straight acrossthe recess 40 and has a sloping cam face at formed on the undersidethereof for engagement with the contact members 22, 26 (not shown inthis view). A button 35' extends upwardly from the bar 34' and has agenerally rectangular cap 42 formed on its upper end. With the exceptionof the structural differences illustrated in FIG. 6 the plug that it isused with is otherwise identical to the structure illustrated in FIGS.ll through 5.

The metal contact members 119, 20, 22, 26 are in prior art devicesformed of relatively heavy brass or bronze in order to remain stifienough to make good contact with the male prongs as, 37. In the presentinvention, these contact members can be made of much lighter materialsince they are not dependent upon the strength of their own material forthe contact with the prongs.

Having thus described the preferred embodiments of the invention, itshould be understood that numerous structural modifications andadaptations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

What is claimed is:

I. A quick release female plug comprising a pair of detachably connectedbody members, a pair of contact memhers mounted in one of said bodymembers, a second pair of contact members individually integrallysecured to said first pair of contact members in divergent opposedrelation with said second pair of contact members extending upwardlyinto the other of said body members, hand-slidable means mounted in theother of said body members for contacting said second pair of contactmembers for camming said second pair of contact members toward saidfirst pair of contact members, and a generally rectangular partitionformed on said one body and extending longitudinally thereof projectingupwardly into said other body, said hand-actuated means provided with arecess engaging over said partition to provide a guide for said handactuated means.

2. The plug of claim 1, wherein said pairs of contact members havecompletely smooth surfaces with no projections or teeth extendingtherefrom.

3. The structure of claim I wherein said hand-slidable means includes abar perpendicular to and in contact with said second pair of contactmembers on its lower side and in contact with said body on its upperside and having a sloping cam surface on its lower side.

4. The plug of claim 3, including means extending from the upper side ofsaid bar in slidable engagement with the outer top surface of said otherof said body members for stabilizing said slidable means and preventingsaid slidable means from falling into said one of said body members.

1. A quick release female plug comprising a pair of detachably connectedbody members, a pair of contact members mounted in one of said bodymembers, a second pair of contact members individually integrallysecured to said first pair of contact members in divergent opposedrelation with said second pair of contact members extending upwardlyinto the other of said body members, hand-slidable means mounted in theother of said body members for contacting said second pair of contactmembers for camming said second pair of contact members toward saidfirst pair of contact members, and a generally rectangular partitionformed on said one body and extending longitudinally thereof projectingupwardly into said other body, said hand-actuated means provided with arecess engaging over said partition to provide a guide for said handactuated means.
 2. The plug of claim 1, wherein said pairs of contactmembers have completely smooth surfaces with no projections or teethextending therefrom.
 3. The structure of claim 1 wherein saidhand-slidable means includes a bar perpendicular to and in contact withsaid second pair of contact members on its lower side and in contactwith said body on its upper side and having a sloping cam surface on itslower side.
 4. The plug of claim 3, including means extending from theupper side of said bar in slidable engagement with the outer top surfaceof said other of said body members for stabilizing said slidable meansand preventing said slidable means from falling into said one of saidbody members.